Demons from the Past

Aldric tightened the grip around his sword, narrowing his eyes at the forest. Another great roar bellowed from the forest, shaking the ground slightly. Take a quick glance to his left and right he saw that the towns ponies were nervously looking at the Everfree, wondering if they should run or not. Something rung throughout the town, so Aldric stole a glance at the town center. The bell was being rung by a older pony, with a black mass flying towards Aldric. Hearing hoofsteps behind him, he turned around to see Twilight and the others galloping rapidly towards him. He smiled at them, only when he looked back the forest, a tree hit him in the face, sending him barreling towards them. After the tree flung off him, he rolled back and got back up on his feet, looking to see if anyone else was injured, thankfully, no pony was.

"Lovely weather we're having, flying trees and all." They all looked back at the forest and then to him. "Oh, right, it's a baloth." They all looked at him, confused, especially Twilight.

"Baloth? I don't think I've ever read about those before, where do they come from?" Aldric thought about answering when Blackwing landed next to him, brandishing his talons.

"Right, tell you later, big monster coming, remember?" Twilight flushed slightly before nodding. Rainbow flew up next to Blackwing.

"Don't worry Aldric I'll-I mean we'll help ya!" Rainbow punched the air with her hooves while Blackwing chuckled, so she glared at him. "What are you laughing at?" Blackwing waved his talon dismissively.

"Nothing, nothing, just that you wouldn't last a second against a baloth. Massive claws, near impenetrable scales, jaws that could eat you in one bite. One of the biggest and meanest son of bitches around." Rainbow looked frightened for a few seconds but shook it off.

"She's right ya know," Aldric turned his to look at Applejack, "we'll fight with ya, ain't tha' right girls?" They all nodded and turned towards the forest, ready to fight. Aldric shook his head.

"Fine, it's your funeral, Blackwing, is the town being evacuated?" Blackwing nodded, narrowly avoiding another tree that flung from the forest.

"Yep, and the mayor sent a letter to Celestia, asking for guards." Aldric shook his head.

"No, I'm not having guards dieing on my account, they've never faced a baloth before, not even Celestia. They're from my plane, how it got here I haven't got a clue. Blackwing, tell the guards to get back to Canterlot, if they still persist... knock them out," Blackwing nodded and shot up, "Rainbow, go with him, they might trust you more, and don't question me, I'm the only one here who's faced a baloth," Rainbow nodded and shot after Blackwing, "now, if you want to help me, evacuate the town, check every building," they all nodded and ran to the center of town. "It's taking awhile for this baloth to get here, I would've thought it would have crashed through the trees halfway through that conver-"

It finally crashed through the trees, roaring as it did. Aldric leapt back slightly, merely at the size. It was massive, at least twenty feet at the shoulder and forty feet long, at best. Aldric had never seen a baloth this size before except for one time.

"No... I sent you down a cliff, you're supposed to be dead," it roared at him, curling its tail over its body, like a scorpion. A massive spike was one the end of it, dripping a dark green ooze, "Experiment One Three Seven-B, nickname; 'Gnasher'. Able to absorb other beasts features into its own mutagenic code, mutating to grow those parts also. You don't have wings now, do you," it whipped its tail forward, spikes shooting out of it, Aldric rolled out the way, feeling one spike graze his back. "Oh, so you have our manticores and the manticores here, lovely. What next, fire breathing?" Aldric swears he saw its lips curl back into a grin before letting loose a torrent of flame at Aldric, who dropped down to the ground, feeling the flames tickle at his back, cauterizing the graze from the spike. Feeling the heat leave his back, the earth rumbling beneath him, Aldric jumped up and sprinted into the nearest alley. Stopping, he looked back at the alley, expecting Gnasher to crash through it. Instead, he felt something crash down behind him, the shockwave shattering the nearest windows. Spinning around, he saw the massive jaws of Gnasher closing down on him. Instinctively, he stomped his foot on the ground, a massive spire smashing into Gnasher's chest, sending him flying into a house, it crushed under the sheer weight and impact of Gnasher. Its tail thrashed around violently, letting loose spikes in every direction, one hitting Aldric in the shoulder, spinning him to the ground. Groaning, Aldric pushed up off the ground slightly, grabbed the spike and ripped it out, hissing in pain. Suddenly, something heavy crashed on Aldric's back, knocking the wind out of him and breaking a few ribs. Turning his head as much as he could, he saw that Gnasher had slammed his massive claw onto him, which was now gaining pressure, breaking more bones. He felt his lungs burning, his windpipe was now being crushed, he couldn't breath.

"STOOOOOOP!" Hearing the scream, both Aldric and Gnasher looked up to see Fluttershy staring at Gnasher. Feeling the pressure relieve slightly, Aldric gasped out, taking massive gulps of air. "You will stop what you are doing, and get off of him! Then you will apologize!" Hearing something slither past him, Aldric saw Gnasher's tail sliding past him.

"Flu-fluttershy, run." Fluttershy stared down at Aldric and then she screamed so loud Aldric was sure his eardrums exploded. Feeling blood drip on his face, Aldric felt his rage growing, like a beast was released after being tortured and starved. Feeling his ribs re-attach themselves and the bleeding stop, Aldric got to his knees. Looking down at his hands, he saw that they were mangled, blood red claws, with fire dancing at the tips. Looking at Fluttershy she was shivering, cold and afraid, with Gnasher standing over her. Grabbing his tail, he heaved Gnasher across town, watching him land back in the Everfree. Waving his arm at Fluttershy, she instantly became healed.

"RuuUUunNNn, I c-cAAaannnN't hhhooOOolllddD i-i-it." Aldric roared at a house, watching it be destroyed. Dashing forward with the speed of lightning, Aldric tore a path through the forest, carving out anything that was in his way. Finally he stopped, Gnasher was in front of him, growling. Wasting no time, Aldric ran forward, feeling spikes hitting him but he didn't stop, it just made him go faster. Jumping, Aldric slammed down Gnasher, wanking out a scale and digging into the soft flesh beneath it. Gnasher roared in pain and knocked Aldric off, swinging his tail at him. Aldric sliced at the tail, feeling blood splatter on his face. Spinning around Aldric grabbed the tail, and swung it down, hearing the spiked tip slice through Gnasher's flesh. Aldric cackled heartily, enjoying the roars of pain from the baloth. Gnasher spun around and slammed his head into Aldric while he was distracted, the spikes plunging into Aldric. Aldric stopped laughing, looked down, then continued on laughing, blood spurting out of his mouth. Aldric stabbed his claws into Gnasher's eyes, then yanked them out, the eyes still attached to them. Scraping off the eyes, he turned back to Gnasher, who had fell on the floor, still breathing.

"Finish it!" Taking the mysterious voice's advice, Aldric slashed at the weaker underbelly of Gnasher and went into a frenzy. Aldric didn't know how long he was slashing but after a while he just stopped. Breathing heavily, Aldric stared down at his claws, which were slowly turning back into hands, covered in sweat and blood. Stumbling backwards, he fell over the tail, landing on his back. "Damn, you're back to normal, was going to use you to destroy the Elements." Aldric jumped up, looking around for the voice.

"Show yourself!"

"Suit yourself." Aldric fell to the ground, sleeping, then waking up in pitch darkness. Turning around, he saw a pair of slitted, golden eyes. Walking out of the darkness, he saw himself with purple claws and ethereal hair.

"Nightmare. Should've guessed I didn't get rid of you, but now I can." Aldric charged at Nightmare, but he simply flicked his claw, sending Aldric flying through the darkness. Rolling onto the ground, Aldric stood up, looking for Nightmare again.

"This is my realm Aldric, nightmares feed me, not even Luna can get rid of me here, I'm in my element." Nightmare materialized next to him, making him jump slightly. "They've always tried to get rid of me, Luna stopping nightmares before I can become one with them. I even tried taking her, but those damn Elements, I was hoping to use you to defeat them. But you've practically welcomed me, the hatred, the ferocity, the impurity, it's delicious. Always battling your inner demons, excuse the pun, you've practically gave me all of my power back in a week and a half, it took a year for Luna. I tried using you to kill Applejack when I first got you, but I wasn't strong enough, but now I am. I'll use you for everything, then I can be ruler."

"Oh really? I don't think you know who you're messing with, I've already have two other voices in my head, I don't need a third." Nightmare cackled and vanished.

"Yes, I've already met those two, they've been taken care of, why is which you haven't talked to them in a while, or were you to dumb to figure that out?"

"Insults will get you nowhere, and besides, I've just been distracting you, I'll be awake in three... two... one." Aldric woke with a start, smacking his head into something. "Ow, son of a bitch." Aldric muttered, looking around. Seeing Princess Celestia rubbing her head, he assumed he smacked into her. "Sorry Celestia," hearing someone coughed, Aldric groaned, "don't start with me Twilight, I've had enough fucking crap to deal with, what with the baloth, how it got here, and the Night-... and other stuff. How'd I get here?" He was in some sort of hospital by the looks of it.

"Ponyville General Hospital, and Fluttershy is here to, she's fine by the way, the doctors were baffled, no wounds, no scar, nothing."

"I... I didn't hurt anyone... did I?" He turned his head to look at Twilight, who was looking at him strange.

"What? No! Of course not, why would you ever think th-"

"BECAUSE I'M A FUCKING MONSTER, THAT'S WHY!" Twilight and Celestia jumped, and the door burst open, showing the others. Aldric turned to look at them, before ripping out everything attached to him and running out the door. Aldrix watched as ponies jumped out of his way and then he saw a window at the end of the hallway.

"ALDRIC! COME BACK!" Aldric ignored the voice and dived out the window, transforming into a hawk and flying away, not looking back.